Argosy All-Story Weekly, 4 February 1922 — page 143: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE BLOOD-CALL, - the dead man’s arms tied about the horse’s = ‘ ™ Yes, we ain’t caught ’em yet,” he said irresolutely. ‘* But—”’ Trilles did not say what he wanted to say. ‘“ We haven’t caught them, and we ought to catch them,” he thought, “ but the truth of it is—1 am afraid.” And furthermore, every man in that posse was afraid. They had seen Quade shoot; they had seen him fight a dozen men; they had seen him lick the “ invinci- ble ” Taurog. But Trilles spoke up, belying his own thoughts. “I ain’t afraid of Quade, men. If it were daylight I’d go up thar alone and git him!” “‘You’ve got a name as being plumb careful and consarvative like, Jug,” one of his posse said. ‘“‘ Might we better play consarvative now!” 7 “You've said the word,” Trilles rejoined eagerly. “ The dark has caught us. Quade and the gal has got the two fastest mounts in the State.” “You're right thar, Jug. Whatever you advises us for to do, we'll do. You're our leader now.” Jug was silent a moment, and every one there hoped—and intuitively knew—that he would play a safe hand. Finally their new chief spoke: “Who’s fight was this, anyway, men? It wasn’t yourn. I’ was potted by Quade —hback thar at the Tumbling L last night. It was a gun-fight, and I ain’t holdin’ that pussenul like the way Juan Scaly, the Mex, holds his troubles. It was a fight, and I was hit. Well and good. But the real fight was atween Taurog and Quade. And Taurog’s lost.” ‘Would it be legal to capture this here hell-bender, take him back to the crater, and lynch him?” another of the posse ar- gued, helping to turn the argument in the direction every one desired. “Lynch him for why?” Trilles-rejoined. “ Because of the chief,” Trilles retorted dryly: “ The chief ain’t givin’ us no orders for to lynch anybody, is he? Ask the chief that thar question and see what he answers.” They all looked at Taurog, whom they had placed in the saddle of a shaggy cow- horse. The stirrups had been hobbled and w- neck with Jatigos. ‘We'll be ridin’ back to the crater now, men,” Trilles decreed, couldn’t get the gal back—nor Quade. The night’s covered ’em, we'll say. In the mornin’ they’ll-be over the divide, and thar ain’t a horse in the range which conld trail ’em.”’ Jim reached the crest of the divide when the purple in the sky had already turned black. Jim met the girl here. He could see the fright in her eyes as she looked up at his face. It was a fear that he was bad- ly wounded and then that they were still -being hounded to their death. ‘“ Taurog hit me—here in the arm,” Jim~ said, ‘It’s only blood that I’ve lost, so let’s not worry. Taurog is dead.” The girl covered her face with her hands. Horror, excitement, a terrific relief wrenched her till she broke into low. sobs. “ Fate turned up with a little card that called everything,” Quade said. “I didn’t kill Taurog—that is, not directly.” The girl looked up, came to herself, and, seeing Quade’s arm hanging limp, she jumped from her horse. Quade dismount- ed as she came to him. “He got the drop on me. Hit me here. I lost my six-gun. Couldn’t pick it up without jumping right into his range. I beat it back behind a jutting part of the- cliff. Hid. When he came up I jumped for him, hoping for a hand-to-hand fight. ‘His horse backed away, and the two scram- bled at the edge of the cliff where the ground gave way. Both fell.” “‘ How about the others? There were five others,” the girl asked as she bandaged Quade’s arm with her scarf, and ripped long strips from her blouse to finish the work. “T rode on slowly, thinking I should go down to the canon bed again to see how Taurog fared. When I looked back—it was very dark, but I could see some horse- men. Don’t know who they were. They picked Taurog up, and the last I saw of them they were trailing down the canon toward the crater again. ” ‘* Then they’ve given the chase up,” the girl cried. ‘“ We are free!” 453 iy “ We'll say that we Sn a / / He Po a WV igokn wv »* AMS ; ee { - ie, Ws dy » *! Woy Ww At ale 28 ; + u¥ PA be A ri, } it gi! af ya tho J va » j sf ha) Sie et is NTL i Wes i - Ki cha RUVT AR ie A> 4 LA. * ch ide) be (4 ; ys fad OP Fa we { ib) i) J Age) . : Ai 4 7. 1 ‘x - RPM TA Me, f he E. 7 a) ; rim rar he Waa Oty De